Tuesday, August 3, 2010

I'm Feelin' Blue!

Who knew that Indiana had so many wonderful blueberry farms. I stumbled upon a U-Pick farm a couple years ago in the area. If you are looking for something to do with your family, I highly recommend finding a U-Pick farm in the summer.

As a ten year 4-H member, I was able to use the skills I learned in in my Food Preservation projects to savor these beauties all year long. This method freezes each berry individually so that you can enjoy a few berries at a time. I scoop out a few berries each day to add to my yogurt. If you try to put them all in a freezer bag at once to freeze, you will end up with one big clump of berries.

Step 1: Give these babies a good rinse.

Step 2: Spread the berries out of a dish towel to dry completely. It is important that there is no residual water. This is a good time to remove any stems or bad berries that you missed before.

Step 3: Spread the berries out in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

Step 4: Put into freezer for a couple hours or until each individual berry freezes.

Step 5: Put the frozen berries into a freezer bag and put back into the freezer to enjoy!

The skills I learned in 4-H sure do come in handy. I can't wait to go to the Indiana State Fair to see all the projects from this generation of 4-Hers!